Blasters, Racing Cars & Dolls: A Mattel Christmas + GIVEAWAY!

Product Review

When it comes to toy blasters, the monkies have always been more familiar with Nerf. This is hardly surprising since Nerf has been the dominant brand in the toy blasters market all these years. Well, until now that is.

Say hello to BOOMco, a ground-breaking innovation in blaster technology by Mattel. The monkies' first impressions when they got their hands on these babies was they all looked so colourful and fun!

And I agree - it seems that BOOMco is targeting the younger generation of blaster fans by the simple size of the blasters. The age range starts from 6+, compared to Nerf's 8+ recommended age.

In case you are wondering, Ale is only arming herself with the BOOMco Dual Defenders toy blasters for illustrative purposes. For the boys though, they simply could wait to see the blasters in action.

Ayd chose the BOOMco Stealth Ambush, a spring operated, clip fed blaster with an integrated shotgun in the rear of the shell. The blaster also features hidden dart compartment for storage which Ayd loved, as it meant he could spring a surprise attack on his brother during battle!

I gave it a try and I certainly found it fun to fire. It was simple to operate, with the clip fed portion shooting well and feeding smoothly. The hidden dart compartment was definitely a blast to use as well.

Ash gunned for the BOOMco Rapid Madness, an air-powered blaster which came with the boast of being able to fling 20 darts in a matter of seconds.

And you know what? It is TRUE! In fact, the Rapid Madness emptied the fully-loaded 20-dart clip in less than 2 seconds. Just check out the blaster in action in the video below.

Note that the video is shot in slow motion mode. Frankly, it is astonishing yet thrilling to blast away - the sound it makes is fantastic, and the flurry of darts that are unleashed is something to behold. I pity the person on the receiving end. The only drawback is one will have to give the blaster a good 15-20 pumps before you are able to fire at such a rapid pace but trust me, the experience will be well worth it.

Oh, and did you notice the white shields that come with each of the blasters?

BOOMco blasters uses Smart Stick, a cutting-edge adhesive technology enables darts to only bond to Smart Stick surfaces and nothing else. What this means is the tip of all BOOMco darts only sticks to Smart Stick targets and blaster shields - so the boys had a field day attempting to deflect and collect each other's darts using the white blaster shields, which can be easily retracted or removed by the way.

Initially, I was skeptical of how well the darts will actually stick on to the targets boards but it really does work very well. The target boards come together with the blasters and are actually adhesive-based. So I was able to peel them off and stick them on my body, just so that the monkies have a moving target for shooting practice.

Another thing I love about the BOOMco darts is they are designed NOT to jam, thanks to its plastic material as opposed to Nerf's foam darts.

Overall, the boys totally dig their new blasters. Me too, actually. They shoot really well - we experienced no darts jamming in the firing chamber at all - and are surprisingly accurate. Although the packaging for the Rapid Madness claims to be able to fire distances of up to 50 feet (about 15m), we managed shots well in excess of 18m. Yes, I measured.

Not a big fan of blasters? Then how about Hot Wheels? Boys will definitely not say not to racing cars... like my boys.

The Hot Wheels Track Builder 5-Lane Tower Starter Set comes with one car and 20 feet of track, and allows kids to build on and configure wild and crazy car stunt sets.

When assembled, there are five different starting points for individual racing, side-by-side racing, going through a ring of fire, and even launching an airplane! So not only will the kids be able to race five cars in four different directions, they can also join the starter set with other existing Hot Wheels track sets to form an intricate track system that will sure to provide hours of endless entertainment.

Hot Wheels is one toy that I don't see my boys growing out of anytime soon. They still relish putting together their Hot Wheels track every now and then and even though sometimes they each want to play their own way, they still love racing the cars against each other.

And the Hot Wheels Track Builder system was great for that. Each of them could play with a separate part, or they could launch their cars off the 5-Lane Tower set and race each other. The end product? Plenty of squeals and laughter as they see their cars careen off the track and tumble onto the floor. Yes, morbid I know.

So the Diva was not to be outdone and fortunately, she had Barbie and the Secret Doll Lead Princess doll to cuddle up to.

If your child has watched the Barbie and The Secret Door animated feature on DVD, she will definitely recognise that the Princess Alexa doll is dressed in the same shimmery top, pretty pink tiara and floral skirt that the lead character wears at the end of the film.

And it sings too! To hear Princess Alexa sing, just pull down on her arm and she will sing two songs from the movie, with her body lighting up at the same time. The songs last only about 2 lines each so while I find Ale's constant tugging of the doll's arm to be annoying for my ears, I have to admit they are quite catchy actually. That, and the fact that Ale guards the doll rather fiercely.

With Christmas around the corner, hopefully I have given you a few suggestions to fill up the base of the Christmas Tree. Or, how about just winning a toy of your choice?

[GIVEAWAY] CLOSED

Thanks to Mattel Singapore, I have ONE Barbie and the Secret Doll Lead Princess Doll and ONE Hot Wheels Track Builder 5-Lane Tower Starter Set to give away!To take part, all you have to do is to tell me which toy you will love to win for your child. Leave your comment of 'GIRL' or 'BOY' either in THIS blog post or on our Cheekiemonkies' Facebook corresponding post HERE.This giveaway is open to all residents in Singapore. Giveaway ends on 17 December 2014, 2359 hours. Good luck!